Fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer dies at 81

FILE - In this March 16, 1965 file photo, Palm Beach the fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer, wears her own design and creation of the Lilly shift, in Palm Beach, Fla. Pulitzer, known for her tropical print dresses, dies in Florida at 81. (AP Photo/Robert H. Houston, File)AP

April 8, 2013 12:01 AM

MIAMI -- Lilly Pulitzer, a Palm Beach socialite in the late 1950s known for tropical print dresses, died at her home Sunday, according to Quattlebaum Funeral and Cremation Services. She was 81.

Pulitzer's dresses became a sensation in the 1960s when then-first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who attended boarding school with Pulitzer, wore one of the sleeveless shifts in a Life magazine photo spread.

The colorful revolution came as fashion shed its reliance on neutrals, and Pulitzer's stuff was almost the housewife version of the more youthful mod look that was migrating from London.

To this day, the Lilly Pulitzer dress remains a popular, if not a necessary, addition to any woman's closet.